Homesick
by akili
Summary: Spock feels strangely when he's traveling with Nyota; they figure out why during the journey.


I do not own Spock or Uhura and I am not making any money from this story. This was my first S/U story. English isn't my first language and I'm a little nervous about tenses, but I'm posting it anyway. I hope you enjoy.

When Nyota announced, 42 minutes, 38 seconds ago that instead of spending time with her family on the beach in Mombasa for the remaining 2.389 days as they planned when they received their leave detail; that she would prefer to explore Egypt, Spock simply tilted his head. He had learned better than to question her, or any Terran female for that matter, unless there was an inherently flawed logic being displayed. As it stood, Egypt was currently one of the thriving areas of the United States of Africa, was safe and as far as he knew, not particularly far away. He met her eyes and nodded once as she set the shuttle coordinates and began telling him that she had always been interested in ancient Egyptian death rituals and the manner that those people believed in communicating with the world of the dead. She smiled and said "A good communications officer should even be up on communicating from the next world!" Spock understood this to be a joke.

She told him that she thought he would find their advanced method of embalming to be interesting.

Spock had already committed to memory the embalming process of the ancient Egyptian royalty. When he reminded Nyota of this she simply told him that seeing it in person would further expand his education. He sighed and looked straight forward; silently calculating the odds that his lack of interest in the ruins of Old Cairo and his knowledge that there would be no embalmed pharaohs to see first hand would require him to sleep on the small cramped sofa in their quarters in 2.3253 days when they returned to the Enterprise.

For the majority of the trip, Spock and Nyota engaged in a discussion regarding a new communication patent being sold by an Egyptian professor turned businessman. The rigor of the discussion distracted Spock from the landscape as it changed from the vibrant and humid coastal sections of Kenya to the harsher, more arid terrain of north eastern Africa. The rocky red outcroppings that jutted from the earth as their shuttle passed over Sudan were largely ignored by the two Enterprise crew members as Nyota made arguments from a standpoint that was not her own. She called it 'playing devil's advocate'; an idiom Spock found to be illogical even when it was explained to him. Nyota suggested that as a half-Vulcan the advancement of logic, despite ones' personal disagreement with the viewpoint, should at the least be considered an exercise of thought that he could appreciate. It was true. He did enjoy picking apart Nyota's arguments of advancement of profit over the public good; however, he always enjoyed speaking to Nyota and he appreciated her incredible intelligence and wit.

Spock was surprised when the shuttle's navigation system announced that they were nearly at their destination and that auto-pilot would be ceasing shortly. Spock evaluated his internal clock, realizing that 5.84 hours had passed since he and Nyota had lifted off from the beach. Nyota swiveled away from Spock and toward the navigation panel, turning her attention to landing the shuttle in a safe place. The pair, Nyota dressed conservatively in a long sleeved cotton blouse and cream colored, slim fitting linen trousers and Spock in a long sleeved heather gray sweater and charcoal slacks, emerged from the shuttle parking base onto a busy street in Cairo.

Nyota had been half right. There were certain intricacies of ancient Egyptian embalming that had not been adequately conveyed to Spock in his education on the subject. It _was_ fascinating. Disappointingly, however, all of the actual mummies that survived the Great Mistake had been completely off limits to the public ever since. In addition to concerns about the damaging effects of radiation on the preserved royalty, Ferengi pirates tended to find the sarcophagi and the mummies to be very valuable. After touring several museums and historical sites related to ancient Egyptian culture, Spock and Nyota wandered around Old Cairo to observe the architecture from a later time. The buildings were beautiful. Nyota commented upon the tile and Arabic art, while Spock was intrigued with the symmetry of the structures and... something else. Something about the mosques, open to the public, stirred something in the back of his mind. It really was quite distracting. Nyota had walked on, leaving Spock to his own thoughts in the Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun when she could not seem to get him to follow. She came back later, having followed an automated tour track to the end and found him in the same spot.

Spock felt strange. Nyota found a restaurant that served spicy kushari to eat and strong shai to drink in the hopes that Spock's strange disorientation would dissipate. He was so used to suppressing his actual appetite when out of his comfort zone (which was her family, still), she hoped that the high carbohydrate, high protein meal would allow him to stay focused. Spock seemed so distracted because he was constantly monitoring himself to see if perhaps he had contracted some malady. He would inspect himself with the aid of a tricorder when Nyota went to sleep at the hotel later in the night. It was illogical to worry her, even if he knew she noticed his odd behavior.

The hotel was new, luxurious and once inside Spock began to feel better immediately. While Nyota showered Spock began the meditation that eluded him since he had been in Africa. Part of this both he and Nyota knew was related to him shielding against her mind as they interacted with her family. The couple had agreed that it would be unhelpful for Nyota to be privy to his small annoyances at her family's normal behavior. They were a happy, well adjusted family... but they were human. And happy and well adjusted Terrans frequently meant asking Spock questions and making gestures that were incredibly offensive to a half-Vulcan. And there was something else. Once Spock had reached a certain level in his meditation, he would examine this issue thoroughly.

Nyota had been asleep for hours when Spock slipped in beside her, his hot chest sliding against back. He thought of wrapping himself around her cool body but realized that, after an entire day in such arid conditions, Nyota's concession to keeping the room at 28.55C was probably as much heat as he could expect her to take. She was human after all. Instead, he lay on his back, his hand on her bare hip and listened to her breathe. He almost felt normal as he matched his partner's breathing and followed her into sleep.

Spock heard Nyota showering again but left his eyes closed. When he opened them she was leaning over him, a broad smile on her face. She was wearing long khaki pants, a white tank top, and a long sleeved tunic over it. She also wore hiking boots. Spock raised an eyebrow. "Get a canteen Spock. There won't be much drinkable water where we're going. Bring something to eat too." She leaned over and kissed his temple, a cool breath escaping against his skin.

When the shuttle was set down in Egypt for the second time, Spock started feeling strange again. Nyota hadn't told him where they were going, but had dressed him in a broad rimmed hat and clothing that was similar to hers. Spock admitted to her that the heat for the barren surrounding made his body temperature feel normal for one of the few times on this planet. As the pair set out away from the beach that the shuttle was docked at, Spock began to feel the strange sense of disquiet and familiarity that he had felt the day before. Fortunately, keeping up with Nyota's long strides required focus and he was able to control the feeling of confusion that came rushing out of nowhere.

An hour into their hike, in the shade of an outcropping Nyota slumped against the rock and took long swallows from her canteen. Spock did not drink, but instead was compelled to stare at his surroundings, the same sense of unease unfurling in his abdomen. Nyota commented that their destination wasn't much further, but Spock didn't hear her. "Spock?" she repeated until he finally realized that she was speaking. She took him by the arm, careful to avoid the sensitive and telepathic pads on his fingertips. It'd hard enough to wander through the desert without your husband's oddness overtaking you too.

Spock only focused on Nyota's slender form as they trudged through the dry red landscape. He believed that if he looked around, the feeling he has would completely overwhelm him. Watching Nyota's hair swing in a braid beneath her pith helmet, following the line of her lower back into the curve of her buttocks, the taper of her thighs to her knees is its own form of meditation for him. If he watches her, he will not lose himself. They ascend and he simply followed, uncharacteristically unquestioning of their direction or purpose.

Nyota stopped.

Spock was comfortable in the temperature but he began to sweat. Nyota regarded him for a moment before stepping toward him. Nyota reached out to Spock with her fingertips and he nearly flinched. Instead, she approached him differently. She rested her cheek against his shoulder, feeling all of his heat permeate his camp shirt, through to her cheek. They stand together on the bluff for several minutes before Nyota slowly grazes her fingers over his. She intertwined her hands with his and noticed his pulse rate quicken, panic rushing across the telepathic link of fingers.

Her cool breath caressed his ear "We're here Spock."

Spock was only vaguely aware of her words, but he savored the feeling of her hand in his even if he knows his immense gratitude is irrational. He feels as though...

"Spock, open your mind to me?" Nyota doesn't say the words, but he hears them through the haze of fear that has been tinging his vision since they arrived in Egypt. Spock lowers his shields to his partner tentatively. Through her mind he sees the landscape.

The red hills leading into mountains, the desert, the hard packed soil and rocks. Spock finds the sight jarring and suddenly feels the need to run, to save Nyota to save... his mother. Spock clutched Nyota's hand so tightly that she cried out in pain. His eyes are filled with fear and something else, something darker. Nyota reached out to him with her mind. The feeling of safety flows out of her skin into his, her mind whispers to him that he's safe, they're both safe-- she looks at the landscape again for him, pressing the image into his mind.

"We are... in the Red Sea Hills?"

"Your sense of direction remains exceptional Spock."

"Fascinating. The terrain is so similar to Vulcan, I..."

"I know." Nyota rolled her face against his neck, "I thought that you'd enjoy it... you so often feel out of place, I know you're homesick. I would be too if my world... I'm sorry Spock. I think I was wrong. I just, I don't know. I thought that you'd welcome the break, the solitude, after nearly a week with my family."

Spock nodded slowly. He moved away from Nyota so that he could look at her squarely, but kept her hand in his. "It has been two earth years since the destruction of Vulcan. I meditated for months, Nyota, but the logic of replaying the events of my planet...my mother's death escaped me. It is illogical to dwell on the past when nothing can be done to change it. It is logical to focus on the present, and the ways that the future can be made better." Spock began to survey the desert for the first time with his own eyes. "But I believe that you are correct. I have not yet moved past this... atrocity and my proximity a region that is so similar to..." Spock trailed off.

In Spock's mind, he felt Nyota stirring. She was studying his memories of the Katric Ark from his childhood; the dark coolness of Mt. Seleya enveloping them in the same subtly mystic sense that was evoked in the shaded corridors of the Ahmad Ibn Tulun mosque. She gently crossed memories of Spock and his mother walking on a hard soil, the hot wind blowing as his mother openly smiled down at him, her hair whipping around her face.

"Nyota," Spock murmured "will you be alright going back to the shuttle on your own?" Nyota was surprised at the request. She hadn't felt it coming in his mind, but she nodded that she would be. "Please leave me then." Spock said, surveying the landscape that stirred the blackness that he had pushed down for years.

Nyota kissed Spock after he'd given her his own supply of water. He lingered in the kiss, his thumbs brushing her temples. Nyota broke from the kiss and told Spock she would be waiting for him, and asked that he make sure he returned before dark. He nodded and she turned to make her way back down the embankment of the bluff. Nyota looked over her shoulder toward her mate and saw him entering meditation position. She brushed his mind again.

"I am fine Nyota. I _will _be fine." Spock said with his back turned to his wife. Nyota nodded again and began down the hill. "Nyota. Thank you. You should know, however, that I do not believe that it is possible for me to be 'out of place' when I am with you. As long as you are with me, I will not be 'homesick'".


End file.
